Overview
This is still a beta version that has already been tested, but will certainly be further improved before becoming the official version (scheduled for the next summer school).
The major changes concern the Cormas kernel, based on a MVC architecture (Model independent of his Views and of the way to Control it). The design has been oriented in two directions: 1) to enable the development of interactive simulations, and 2) to facilitate the collective design and implementation of models.
- For the first point, the goal is to interact more easily with the entities of a simulation (to move them manually, send them messages, track them, "zoom in" on parts of space, ...) in order to participate, alone or with others, on the run of a scenario.
- For the 2nd point, we seek to facilitate the implementation of an ABM. This is to simplify how to create new classes and to specify attributes and their values. But it is also possible to draw simple activitiy diagrams that are directly interpreted by Cormas. The goal is not to avoid coding a model, but to organize plug-and-play activity nodes (software blocks that were previously coded by the modeler) in order to graphically design the behavior's rule of an agent. This diagram editor allows the creation of new activities that are interpreted “on the fly” by Cormas.
Some progress are still needed in both directions. These are the first steps.
Several other changes were done, such as the development of a sensitivity analysis module or the creation of new entities (networks, nodes and arcs). Nevertheless, the models developed under the older Cormas versions should be compatible with this new Cormas. Gradually, we will revise the tutorials explaining how to design ABMs with Cormas.
So, if you want to test this new version, you're welcome! You can send your feedback on the forum (cormas@cirad.fr) indicating in the subject of your message [beta2012].
Installation
Install VW7.6nc
Cormas has been developped for the 7.6 non-commerciale version of VisualWorks®
(Cincom Systems). VW must be installed on your computer. On the condition that you agree not to use Cormas for commercial purposes, you can directly download vw7.6nc (version for Windows and for Mac os X) from Cormas site. It is recommended to unzip the archive directly under the root of your hard drive to minimize configuration problems that may arise with recalcitrant OS.
Keep your old version of Cormas
If an older version of Cormas is already installed on your computer, you can keep this version. Just change the directory name 'cormas' to 'cormas_Old' (or whatever).
Install Cormas2012 for the first time
Download the latest version of Cormas (cormas2012_Full.zip, 13 MB) of September 2012. Unzip the package into the directory VW7.6nc. The subdirectory 'cormas' is created. It already contains the cormas.im file (instructions in English are detailed here). Copy your models in the subdirectory VW7.6nc/cormas/Models/.
Update Cormas2012
If Cormas2012 is already installed, do a simple update by unzipping the cormas2012.zip (1.6 MB) in VW7.6nc/cormas/ directory. Open cormas.im and select the menu: '?' and 'Update Cormas'.
Thank's to the first beta testers who faced the teething problems (Raphaèle, Chloé, Hermès, Olivier and everyone of the 2011 ABMS summer school)!
